COMPUTER giant Hewlett-Packard (HP) will open eight new technology demonstration facilities across the region to show customers how to wring more value out of their data centre environments.

Two of these so-called 'Adaptive Infrastructure Discovery Centres', located in Japan and Korea, are now fully operational and the company is in the midst of refurbishing five existing ones in Singapore, China and Australia.

An eighth facility in Taiwan is set to open its doors by July this year, according to Simon Hum, HP's adaptive infrastructure programme manager for the Asia-Pacific region.

HP's adaptive infrastructure solutions claim to allow customers to build more efficient data centres by addressing key issues like power consumption, cooling and labour costs.

At the new demonstration facilities, the firm will showcase a multitude of its latest technologies for alleviating these problems, such as its virtualisation offerings, cooling systems, as well as data centre management and automation tools. For example, HP is set to highlight its Dynamic Smart Cooling system, a technology which allows companies to pack more servers into their data centres while putting a cap on electricity bills. Industry analysts estimate that power-sapping cooling systems make up around 40 per cent of the running costs for a data centre and the number is set to increase in the near future.

Dynamic Smart Cooling technology overcomes the issue by using a network of heat sensors to control cooling fans. The system will automatically turn down the cooling in areas where servers are sitting idle while providing additional cooling in places where computing equipment is highly-utilised.

With this technology, companies can also make their data centres more space-efficient as they can cram more servers onto a single rack without fear of ventilation and cooling repercussions. According to Mr Hum, initial response from customers has been encouraging. 'We are now averaging 30 customers a week (for the recently opened centre).'

This article first appeared in BT on May 24, 2007